Impact

According to bbc.news.com, in December 2011, a group of recreational trespassers calling themselves the Place Hackers evaded security and made their way to the top of the Shard building site, climbing one of the tallest cranes in the process (2012). They later posted photographs of the London skyline taken from the top of the Shard on the Internet and received wide media attention. One member of the group, Oxford University researcher Bradley Garrett, later revealed to various news outlets that over 20 urban explorers had made their way to the top of the building during its construction (2012). In a 2012 article for Domus magazine, Garrett wrote that "the conceptual barrier to places in our cities is brought about by a process of engineered exclusion" and that the explorers were "cultivating the creative city that money can't buy".

On 3 September 2012, a team of 40 people, including Prince Andrew, Duke of York, abseiled from the tower's 87th floor. This feat was performed to raise money for the Outward Bound Trust and the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund (2012). In November 2012, the French urban climber Alain Robert was spotted in the building by security guards. At the end of the month, the Shard's owners won an injunction to prevent him from entering or climbing the building (O'Brien, 2012).

On 11 July 2013, six female Greenpeace volunteers climbed the Shard and unfurled a flag in protest against Arctic oil drilling by Royal Dutch Shell. The women announced they were "experienced climbers", but medical personnel were summoned to the base of the tower nonetheless.[91] The Shard's staff closed the tower's observatory and gave the women a safety briefing and other advice during their climb. After completing their 16-hour climb, the six women were arrested by police on suspicion of aggravated trespass (O'Brien, 2012).

In popular culture, The Shard appeared in the 2012 short film The Snowman and The Snowdog and its tie-in computer game (Tyler, 2012). Furthermore, The Shard has a significant role in the 2013 Doctor Who episode "The Bells of Saint John", as it is the headquarters of the episode's antagonist, the Great Intelligence. The Doctor vertically rode a motorbike on the face of the building and through a window to reach the Great Intelligence's headquarters (Foster, 2013).

Reference:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-17656669

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/apr/09/shard-hacking-group-sneak-building

http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2012/07/09/scaling-the-shard.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-19461892

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/forget-the-green-goblin-shard-to-stop-french-spiderman-alain-robert-with-an-injunction-8372254.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-23266281

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2013/03/bellsofstjohn-010313000008.html

http://www.theartsdesk.com/tv/snowman-and-snowdog-channel-4